The Medium

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread desktop processor based on the Alder Lake architecture, built on Intel's 10 nm process. It operates with a base clock of 3.30 GHz and a boost clock of 4.30 GHz, with a 12 MB shared L3 cache. Its benchmark profile shows a strong single-threaded presence, scoring 893 in 3dmark_single_thread and 1681 in Cinebench R23 single-core, which places it in the 72nd percentile of all CPUs. However, its multi-threaded performance is more modest; the Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11912 and a Passmark multithread score of 14015 indicate that while it can handle modern workloads, its physical core count limits heavy parallel processing.

In The Medium, this CPU's characteristics are relevant because the game is a horror title that often employs fixed camera angles and scripted sequences, which can be sensitive to frame pacing and minimum frame rates. The data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 44.2 FPS, which is the highest measured average across all settings and resolutions. This suggests that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU adequately at lower graphical loads. The i3-12100F’s single-thread performance, as evidenced by its 3dmark_2_threads score of 1659 and Geekbench single-core score of 2224, helps maintain consistent frame delivery in scenarios where the game logic is not heavily threaded. Compared to its nearest rivals in the CPU benchmark database, it sits within a tight band: it is 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX, 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U, 0.6% ahead of the Intel Core i3-10105, and 1.8% ahead of the Intel Core i7-7700K. This indicates that for gaming, the i3-12100F’s architectural efficiency compensates for its lower core count relative to some older high-end parts.

GPU Role — VRAM, clocks, and how they relate to this game's results

The AMD Radeon RX 570 is built on the Polaris 20 chip using GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process by GlobalFoundries. It features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The GPU operates at a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1244 MHz, with memory clocked at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). It has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, delivering a pixel rate of 39.81 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 159.2 GTexel/s. Its FP32 performance is rated at 5.095 TFLOPS. The GPU's percentile ranking among all GPUs is 74, and its average benchmark score of 30158 places it just 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT in the database's aggregate metrics.

In The Medium, the GPU's role is critical, and the 4 GB VRAM capacity appears to be a significant limiting factor. The game's measured FPS shows a steep drop when moving from Low to Medium settings at any resolution. For example, at 1080p, the average FPS falls from 44.2 on Low to 28.2 on Medium, a reduction of 36%. At 1440p, the drop is from 39.2 on Low to 25.2 on Medium, a 36% decline as well. At 4K, the Low setting yields 29.9 FPS, while Medium drops to 16.8 FPS, a 44% decrease. This pattern suggests that the Medium preset likely increases texture detail and memory pressure beyond the 4 GB frame buffer, causing the GPU to spill into system memory or reduce throughput. The Ultra settings are nearly unplayable across all resolutions, with 1080p achieving only 17.1 FPS, 1440p at 16.1 FPS, and 4K at 11.4 FPS, indicating that the RX 570’s compute and memory subsystems are overwhelmed by the game's higher-quality assets.

Resolution Scaling — how FPS drops from 1080p to 4K and what it says about the limiting component

The FPS scaling across resolutions reveals a clear picture of where the bottleneck lies. At Low settings, the game runs at 44.2 FPS at 1080p, drops to 39.2 FPS at 1440p (an 11% decrease), and further to 29.9 FPS at 4K (a 32% decrease from 1080p). This relatively gentle scaling from 1080p to 1440p, followed by a more pronounced drop at 4K, indicates that at lower settings, the CPU and GPU are more balanced, but the GPU becomes increasingly stressed as pixel count rises.

At High settings, the scaling is more erratic: 1080p yields 17.5 FPS, 1440p yields 15.4 FPS (a 12% drop), and 4K yields 15.3 FPS (a negligible additional drop). This near-flat line from 1440p to 4K at High settings suggests that the limiting factor is not raw resolution but rather the game's rendering complexity and the GPU's inability to handle the load at any resolution. The data indicates that at High and Ultra settings, the RX 570 is severely underpowered for The Medium, as the FPS is consistently below 20 regardless of resolution. Conversely, at Medium settings, the scaling from 1080p (28.2 FPS) to 1440p (25.2 FPS) is a 11% drop, but the jump to 4K (16.8 FPS) is a 40% drop from 1080p, which shows that the GPU's memory bandwidth and compute capacity are the primary constraints at higher resolutions. Overall, the data suggests that the RX 570 is the dominant bottleneck for this combo, as even at 1080p Low, the frame rate does not reach 60 FPS, and the CPU's headroom is not the limiting factor.

How This Combo Ranks — use comboRankInGame vs other tested combos

The combination of the Intel Core i3-12100F and AMD Radeon RX 570 ranks 1597 out of 1689 tested combos in The Medium. This places it in the bottom 6% of all configurations in the database, which is consistent with the measured frame rates that are mostly below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The rank reflects not only the absolute FPS numbers but also the consistency across settings; the highest average FPS recorded is 44.2 at 1080p Low, which is below the 60 FPS target most modern games aim for. The combo's position is particularly poor when considering that the CPU itself is not a weak performer—its percentile rank is 72 among all CPUs—but the GPU's limitations drag the overall experience down. The data shows that even at the lowest settings, the GPU cannot deliver a playable experience at 4K, and at 1080p High, it only manages 17.5 FPS, which is a 60% drop from the Low setting. This indicates that the user must choose between very low graphical fidelity for marginally playable frame rates or higher settings for a slideshow. The combo rank of 1597 suggests that the average user of this pairing would find The Medium unplayable at anything above Low settings, and even then, the experience would be suboptimal.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution and settings combination for this hardware in The Medium?

A: The data shows that 1080p with Low settings provides the highest average FPS at 44.2, which is the only configuration that approaches playability. At 1440p Low, the average FPS is 39.2, and at 4K Low, it drops to 29.9, so 1080p Low is the most viable option.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in the benchmark database?

A: The Intel Core i3-12100F has an average benchmark score of 13516. It is 0.1% behind the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3975WX (avg score 13534) and 0.4% ahead of the Intel Core i7-1250U (avg score 13462). It also leads the Intel Core i3-10105 by 0.6% and the Intel Core i7-7700K by 1.8%.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the primary bottleneck in this configuration?

A: The benchmark results indicate the GPU is the limiting factor. At 1080p Low, the CPU can push the frame rate to 44.2 FPS, but increasing settings to Medium drops the FPS to 28.2, and to 17.1 at Ultra. This pattern of sharp drops with setting changes, combined with the GPU's low scores at 4K, points to the Radeon RX 570 as the main constraint.

Q: What is the FPS difference between 1080p and 4K at Medium settings?

A: At 1080p Medium, the average FPS is 28.2. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 16.8. This represents a 11.4 FPS drop, or a 40% reduction in performance when moving from 1080p to 4K.

Q: How does the Radeon RX 570's benchmark score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 570 has an average benchmark score of 30158. It is 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (score 30109) and 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT (score 30097). It also leads the NVIDIA Tesla M60 by 0.6% and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile by 0.8%.

Q: Why is the frame rate at High settings so similar between 1440p and 4K?

A: At High settings, the average FPS is 15.4 at 1440p and 15.3 at 4K. This near-identical performance suggests that the game is not limited by pixel count at these settings but rather by the GPU's compute capacity and memory bandwidth, which are exhausted regardless of resolution.